Woven pile fabric



March 30, 1965 w. c. PEARSON WOVEN PILE FABRIC Filed Sept. 24, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INV EN 1 OR W/LBERT CI PEARSON uaus h flis ATTORNEYS March 30, 1965 w. c. PEARSON WOVEN PILE FABRIC 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 24, 1963 INVENTOR.

W/LBERT C. PEARSON BY BwmsEnasZuMZri-S wQW/WM:

A TTORNEVS United States Patent 3,175,589 WQVEN PlLE FABRE Wilbert C. Pemson, La Grange, 9a., assiguor to Callaway Mills Company, La Grange, Ga, a corporation of Georgia Filed Sept. 24, 1963, Ser. No. 311,046 3 (Ilairns. (Cl. 139-403) This invention relates to pile fabrics and to apparatus for weaving pile fabrics. It is concerned particularly with the weaving of pile fabrics having distinctive appearance characteristics on a velvet loom having only one pile warp beam.

Velvet looms have long been used in the production of plain pile fabrics suitable for use as floor coverings. Generally speaking, the velvet loom is relatively economical, both from the standpoint of pile yarn consumption and from the standpoint of weaving time requirements. However, its flexibility is limited as far as the production of patterns and textured effects is concerned.

In recent years much attention has been given to efforts directed toward the provision of velvet fabrics having more interesting appearance characteristics, while preserving the relative economy of the velvet manufacturing operations. This invention is concerned with such problems. It envisions a new fabric and also improvements in the loom itself.

The novel velvet pile fabric of the invention has a random texture that gives interesting qualities to the appearance of the fabric and that avoids the rowing or lining effects frequently observed in velvet floor coverings. The fabric includes two sets of pile warps which rise from the backing alternately in the form of pile loops. The pile warps of each set are arranged in groups contain ng different numbers of pile warp ends, and the groups from one set alternate across the fabric with groups from the other set in a distinctive arrangement that will be described in detail below.

The pile loops are formed during the weaving process by raising them over transverse pile wires. All of the pile warps of one set are raised and lowered together by one harness, and all of the pile warps of the other set are raised and lowered together by another harness. The two harnesses operate in opposition to each other in the sense that when one is in an elevated position to dispose the pile warps of one set over a pile wire, the other is in a lower position to dispose the pile warps of the other set beneath that pile wire.

With this type of operation the length of one pile yarn required for a given loop forming cycle of loom operation differs from the length of another pile yarn required during the same cycle. That is to say, more yarn is required for those ends that pass over a pile wire than for those ends that pass under a pile wire. Unless this difference is taken into account in supplying the pile yarns to the harnesses of the loom, difficulties in operation and imperfections in the fabric will result. Yet, the present invention makes it feasible to supply the pile yarns of both sets from a single warp beam.

In accordance with the invention, the two sets of pile yarns are acted upon in the zone between the pile warp beam and the harnesses by slack take up means of novel construction which operates automatically to take up slack in the pile warps of the set disposed beneath a pile Wire during a loop forming cycle of the loom. The take up includes a pair of spaced apart, parallel rods connected together by bars that are mounted for sliding movement. The path of the pile warp ends is such that the yarns passing to one harness are in contact with one of the rods and the yarns passing to the other harness are in contact with the other rod. During a cycle when loops are being formed in the pile yarns of one set, the tension in these yarns causes the bars to slide in such a direction as to move the rod contacting the other set of pile yarns to take up the slack in such yarns.

A more complete understanding of the invention will be gained from a consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a schematic view illustrating the location'of the slack take up of this invention in the paths of the pile yarns in a velvet loom;

FIG. 2 is a partial isometric view of the position of the slack take up mechanism when one set of pile warp ends is raised into loops by passing over a pile wire;

FIG. 3 is a partial isometric view of the position of the slack take up mechanism when the other set of pile warp ends is raised into loops passing over a pile wire;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the particular harness draw of the present invention with the pile warp ends of the two sets passing over alternate pile wires;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-section of the fabric taken parallel to the warp threads showing the interweaving of the pile ends and the backing;

HS. 6 is a longitudinal cross-section taken parallel to the warp threads of a fabric having its pile loops formed over straight and ramp pile wires; and

FIG. '7 is a diagrammatic view of the preferred sequence of ramp and straight pile wires.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the preferred embodiment of a velvet loom which includes a harness 10 for raising and lowering one set 12 of pile warps in opposition to another set of pile warps 14 which are raised and lowered by a second harness 16. Any conventional mechanism can be used to move the two harnesses.

When one set of pile warps is raised by its harness in opposition to the other set, a shed is formed and a pile wire 18 is inserted into the shed. These pile wires 18 are beaten up to the tell of the fabric to form loops. While stutter warps, binder wefts and binder warps are interwoven in a conventional manner, they have been omitted from FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity.

The two sets of pile warps are supplied by a single beam 20 rotatably mounted on the frame of the loom. After the pile warps leave the beam, they pass over a conventional yarn tensioning mechanism 22. Such mechanism includes a shaft 24 which extends transversely of the loom and a pile whip roller 26 spaced from the shaft 24 by rocker arms 28 mounted for swinging movement about the axis of the shaft 24. Suitable weighting means, not shown, are provided for biasing the rocker arms in a counter clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a slack take up mechanism 36 is mounted on the yarn tension mechanism 22.. This slack take up mechanism prevents the slack produced in one set of pile yarns from being beaten up in the woven fabric as the pile yarns of other set are being formed into loops.

The slack take up mechanism 30 includes two rods 32 and 34 which split the pile warps into the two sets 12 and 14. The two sets are then regrouped and pass about the pile whip roller 25 whereupon they are split into the same sets to pass through the harnesses ill and 16 as explained before.

As shown more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rods 32 and 34 are attached at their ends to bar members 36 which have eyelets 38 at their extremities. Each of the bars 36 is mounted on a rocker arm 28 by means of a box-like member 40 having apertures 42 through which the bar passes. The diameter of the apertures 42 should be slightly greater than the diameter of the bar to permit freedom of movement of the bar along its axis. Prefer- 3 ably the axes of the bars are substantially perpendicular to the rocker arms 28.

During operation of the loom, when set 12 of the pile warps is raised, the pile wire 18 is inserted, and the wire beaten up to the fell of the fabric, more yarn is required of the raised set 12 than of the non-raised set 14 passing under the wire. Since both sets of pile ends are supplied from the same beam at the same rate, slack will be produced in the non-raised set 14 while the raised set 12 will be under tension. Due to this tension, a force is exerted against the rod 32 about which that set passes.

As shown in FIG. 2 the rod 32 will move to the right under the influence of the force, thereby reducing the length of the yarns of the set 12 between the shaft 24 and pile whip roller 26. Rod 34, which is in engagement with pile set 14, will also move to the right due to its connection to rod 32 by members 36. This movement increases the length of the yarns of the non-raised pile set 14 between the shaft 24 and the pile whip roller 26, thereby taking up the slack.

' When the procedure is reversed, and set 14 is raised by harness 16 and formed into loops, the bars 36 will move to the left, as shown in FIG. 3, since the set 14 is under tension and exerts a force on rod 34. Accordingly, the movement of rod 32 to the left will take up the slack produced in pile set 12. Thus, it will be observed that the slack take up mechanism of this invention is simple in design and functions automatically in response to the tensions in the pile yarns. The preferred harness draw of this invention is shown in FIG. 4. Each pile set is composed of a plurality of groups of yarns, and the groups of one set are separated from each other by groups of yarns from the other set. In the illustrated embodiment, the pile set 14 passing through harness 16 is composed of Group A having three pile warps therein, Group B having two pile warps therein, and Group C having one pile warp therein. The pile set 12 passing through harness is composed of Group A having one pile warp therein, Group B having three pile warps therein, and Group Chaving two pile warps therein. This sequence is then repeated across the loom.

Since the sets of pile warps are raised alternately over the pile wires, in any weftwise row the adjacent groups I of raised loops will be separated from each other by a non-raised pile group having a different number of pile warps than the raised pile groups immediately adjacent to it. Further, in any three successive weftwise raised pile groups each group will have a different number of pile warps therein.

The preferred embodiment of the fabric includes the backing shown in FIG. 5. This backing is a multiple weft plane fabric having upper weft threads 44 and lower weft threads 45. The two sets of pile warp yarns are raised alternately in loops 46 and 48 extending upwardly between adjacent binder wefts 44. The loops 46 of one set are separated from each other by two binder wefts 44 and the loops 48 of the other set extend upwardly between those two binder wefts. tuffer warp yarns 50 extend between the upper and lower weft threads 44 and 45, and binder warps 52 bind the various yarns together in a conventional manner.

The velvet fabric of the invention is characterized by a random appearance effect. On the face of the fabric there are no rows of loops, or groups of aligned loops, of any substantial length in any direction.

The textured effect of the fabric may be enhanced through the use of variously colored yarns in the pile and through the formation of pile loops of different heights. In employing these techniques, however, care must be exercised to assure that the random pattern characteristics of the fabric will be preserved.

A desirable fabric having three different pile heights 4, is shown in FIG. 6. The backing of this fabric is the same as that shown in FIG. 5 and it need not be described again in detail. In any group of three successive loops of a pile warp yarn 54, each'of the loops is of a different height. Loop 56 is relatively low, loop 58 is of medium height, and loop 60 is relatively high. Pile Warp yarn .62, which is apart of another set of pile warp yarns, also has pileloops of different heights. A typical group of three successive loops includes a relatively high loop 64, a relatively low loop 66, and a medium high loop 68.

The different size loops of the fabric are produced by using the sequence of straight and ramp pile wires shown in FIG. 7. Loops in one set of pile warps are first formed over a pile Wire 76! which has a raised ramp portion 72. After that wire is beaten up, the next row of loops of that set are formed over pile wire 74 having a similar ramp portion '76. The next wire 78 over which the loops of that set are formed is 'a straight wire which does not have a raised ramp portion. This sequence is then repeated throughout the weaving operation.

When a given set of pile yarns passes over a straight pile wire and the wire is withdrawn, pile loops having the height of the wire are formed weftwise of the fabric in that set. When that set is raised again, a ramp wire is next inserted. When that wire is withdrawn, the ramp portion will raise those loops to the height of the ramp and rob from the preceding row of loops of that set the amount of yarn necessary to compensate for the increased height of the wire. This will produce loops of low height in that preceding row. When the pile set is raised again, another ramp wire is inserted. When that wire is removed, it will rob from the preceding row of loops of that set. However, since it is robbing from loops having the height of the ramp portion, the height of those loops will be decreased to a medium height as compared to when the yarn was robbed from a loop formed over a straight Wire.

It should be understood that the embodiments of this invention disclosed above are for the purposes of illustration, and changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the disclosurewithout departure from the invention as defined in the appended claims I claim:

1. A pile fabric having two sets of pile warps raised alternately in pile loops, one pile set having a first group of two pile warps separated from a second group of three pile warps by a group of the other set havingone pile warp, said second group being separated from a third group having one pile Warp by a group of the other set having two pile warps, and a group of said other set having three pile warps separating said third group from the next group of that set.

2. The pile fabric of claim 1 wherein any three successive loops of any pile warp have different heights.

3. The fabric of claim 1 further including two planes of binder wefts, disposed'one on top of the other, a stufier warp separating the two planes, and binder warps interwoven with said binder wefts, said pile loops projecting upward between two successive binder wefts of the top plane with two binder wefts disposed between the loops of each pile warp. 7

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,556,055 6/51 Bahan 139-97 2,708,457 5/55 Gebert 139-403 2,754,856 7/56 Hoeselbarth 139-403 2,884,020 4/59 Karpotf 139-403 2,932,325 4/ 60 Patrick 139-97 2,932,328 4/60 Hoeselbarth 139-403 2,950,741 8/60 Janney et a1. 139-404 DONALD w. PARKER, Primary Examiner. 

1. A PILE FABRIC HAVING TWO SETS OF PILE WARPS RAISED ALTERNATELY IN PILE LOOPS, PILE SET HAVING A FIRST GROUP OF TWO PILE WARPS SEPARATED FROM A SECOND GROUP OF THREE PILE WARPS BY A GROUP OF THE OTHER SET HAVING ONE PILE WARP, SAID SECOND GROUP BEING SEPARATED FROM A THIRD GROUP HAVING ONE PILE WRAP BY A GROUP OF THE OTHER SET HAVING TWO PILE WARPS, AND A GROUP OF SAID OTHER SET HAVING THRRE PILE WARPS SEPARATING SAID THIRD GROUP FROM THE NEXT GROUP OF THAT SET. 